Guillermo Del Toro’s “Pacific Rim” is a feast for the imagination and, frankly, the most exciting and interesting big-budget studio summer blockbuster. This is, despite arriving in a year where most of the big-budget studio summer blockbusters were not any good, not damning with faint praise. “Pacific Rim” outdoes “Star Trek Into Darkness” in building a compelling and interesting science fiction world, outdoes “Man of Steel” with its massive-scale action sequences that remember to be fun instead of just joyless and dour, and outdoes “Elysium” in thematic cohesion and commentary – which ain’t bad, considering it was written off as a silly movie about giant robots fighting giant monsters. Which is also is. “Pacific Rim” tells the story of a future in which humanity is on the ropes against the invading kaiju forces, giant monsters arriving from an interdimensional rift at the bottom of the ocean in stronger numbers and more furious guises with an evident aim to destroy humanity. The only hope remains in the fledgling jaeger program, giant robots piloted by pairs of specialized soldiers bound together by neural link. (Already, “Pacific Rim” has more in the way of genuine sci-fi than the entirety of “Star Trek Into Darkness.”) What Del Toro remembers in a mix of the awe-inspiring and the humanity, a mix of superb action and inspired silliness and a fair amount of gravitas to ground things – but never too much. Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Idris Elba and Ron Perlman star, and you get just enough of them, but the big matchups between kaiju and jaegers are the things sci-fi blockbuster fans dream of. Which makes their decision to flock to “Star Trek Into Darkness,” “Man of Steel” and “Elysium” even less explicable; you can make the most fun popcorn movie in years, but I guess you can’t make audiences see it. $28.98 DVD, $35.99 Blu-ray.

“THE HEAT”

Sandra Bullock’s having a very good year, what with her current star turn (and, mark my words, soon to be award-nominated performance) in “Gravity” and her earlier smash success with this wonderfully funny comedy, “The Heat.” Bullock teams with the breakout star and director of 2011’s “Bridesmaids,” Melissa McCarthy and Paul Feig, and though that duo doesn’t quite hit the frenzied, consistently hilarious heights of that movie, this clever and raucously bawdy female-oriented take on the buddy-cop comedy is a crowd-pleasing delight. It’s amazing what pairing likeable leads and cleverly subverting a bit of the same old genre formula can do. Bullock stars as uptight, by-the-book FBI agent Sarah Ashburn, sent to Boston to find a mysterious drug lord. But getting to the bottom of this unidentified foe requires Ashburn to team up with local detective Shannon Mullins (McCarthy), a bull-in-china-shop, take-no-prisoners cop who isn’t out to make friends and hardly receptive to teaming up with an agent as aggressively no-nonsense as Ashburn. Hilarity, as it often does, ensues; the plot in “The Heat” is, let’s face it, totally secondary to the shaggy jokes and riffing between the two mismatched partners, but if you enjoy a surprisingly game Bullock and McCarthy trading blows in one silly set piece after another, who cares about the plot? I doubt it’ll be as fondly remembered as “Bridesmaids,” but it’s a hell of a lot better than, say, “Identity Thief,” and as long as McCarthy keeps bringing in crowds I’m happy when they’re in movies as funny as “The Heat.” $29.98 DVD, $39.99 Blu-ray.

“KEVIN HART: LET ME EXPLAIN”

I was not much of a fan of “Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain,” but it’s hardly worth examining for its filmic merits. It’s a curious phenomenon that the popular comedian Hart has single-handedly resuscitated the stand-up comedy concert film; when’s the last time one of those made any significant dent in nationwide box office? “Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie,” maybe? Has Jeff Dunham released a film? Anyway, there’s “Eddie Murphy: Raw” and there’s everything else, but to his credit, Hart’s taking a page from Murphy’s business model, and the audience seems to be there, willing to pay movie theater prices for a 75-minute stand-up show (that includes a 15-minute prologue with a prescripted skit about Hart’s problems at a party, and a brief montage of Hart’s recent world tour) chronicling a sold-out show at Madison Square Garden. And that puts Hart in special company, given that not too many stand-ups have managed that feat (Dane Cook and Andrew Dice Clay are among that number, though, so…). Anyway. It’s great for Hart. I like him. I like his performances in movies. He’s been very funny in very many things. I did not particularly like “Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain.” You may like this particular stand-up set, and if you do, so too will you like this movie, and I hope we understand each other that this review basically did no one any good at all. $21.98 DVD, $29.99 Blu-ray.

October 8

“THE HANGOVER PART III”

One of the most successful comedy trilogies in recent memory — if only by virtue of the fact that I can’t think of too many other comedy trilogies, anyway — ends with a whimper with “The Hangover Part III,” which follows the surprisingly funny original and the decently funny sequel with a film that wraps the whole thing up, except without jokes. Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis return as the Wolfpack, and their story is adequately concluded, but somewhere along the way someone in charge of these films wrongly suspected that what the third film needed is emotional closure in the tale of these three goofballs, instead of the mystery hook that propels the first two films. There’s no mystery here, no twist, unless you consider the fact that it’s completely straightforward to be a twist. Here, Phil (Cooper), Stu (Helms) and Doug (Justin Bartha) team up to send the dysfunctional, maladroit Alan to rehab. But along the way, a crime kingpin (John Goodman) kidnaps Doug and sends the three to find the gangster Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong, running his shtick into the ground) to recover a sum of money that the Wolfpack is in part responsible for Chow stealing. Mayhem ensues in Mexico and Las Vegas, once more, with a few returning characters from the first two films making brief appearances. But Jeong and Galifianakis dominate the proceedings, and neither is given anything particularly noteworthy or funny to do. “The Hangover Part III” looks nice, but I can’t imagine even the staunchest fan of the first two films being remotely satisfied with this; a coda that hints at the drunken bad decisions audiences were so fond of before comes far too late to be of any consequence. $28.98 DVD, $35.99 Blu-ray.

“THE PURGE”

A decent premise for a horror thriller is wasted in “The Purge,” a low-budget hit from the summer that can be charitably described as boneheaded. Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey star in this half-baked thriller with an attempt at social relevance that collapses under the barest scrutiny, a “haves vs. have-nots” tale set in a near future America where, for one night a year, all laws are suspended and the citizenry can take out their frustrations by murdering, pillaging, looting and raping to their heart’s content — until time runs out, and it’s back to business as usual. Things being the way they are, the wealthy shelter themselves in their lavish homes with expensive security systems during the Purge, while the poor and homeless fend for themselves and are disproportionately victimized. Hawke plays a security system salesman whose comfortable Purge night is up-ended when his son lets in a homeless veteran who had run afoul of a group of young yuppies out for his blood. Through a series of contrivances, these youths also turn their ire toward Hawke and family. Will they survive the night? With all the idiotic things they do, it’s impossible to predict for sure. But it’s not like the premise of “The Purge” is some air-tight piece of social commentary to begin with; the suspension of disbelief it requires is taxing, to say the least, and when “The Purge” devolves into a boring series of characters wandering in dark hallways, one comes to realize quickly that such suspension just isn’t even worth it. $29.98 DVD, $34.98 Blu-ray.

“AFTER EARTH”

Made something of a critical whipping boy upon its release — either to deflate star Will Smith’s ego a bit, to kick director M. Night Shyamalan while he’s down (again), or both in equal measure — the science fiction adventure film “After Earth” ignominiously arrives on home video after a rare box office failure for one of the biggest movie stars in the world. Smith takes a supporting role with his son, Jaden, in the lead of this story about a father and son who crash-land on an abandoned Earth long in the future, after mankind has left the planet and set up colonies on other planets. Will Smith stars as Cypher Raige, a respected and feared soldier whose talents for defeating the alien beings that plague humanity by sensing their fear are second to none; Jaden plays his son, Kitai, a timid boy aspiring to reach the greatness of his father and thrust suddenly into a situation where he must, where it falls to him to save himself and his critically injured father by making a dangerous journey across an unrecognizable landscape to set off a distress beacon. There’s no real reason, honestly, that the action in “After Earth” takes place on Earth, and it’s occasionally pretty silly (character names and ill-conceived accents don’t seem to be a strong point of this film), but guess what: “After Earth” is not that bad for something of a young adult survival adventure film, suspenseful and exciting and the sort of thing preteen to early teen children will likely really enjoy. It certainly isn’t the best science fiction film in recent memory, but would do just fine to serve as an exciting adventure for families with preteens or young teens in search of a film to enjoy together. $30.99 DVD, $35.99 Blu-ray.

“MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING”

Joss Whedon, the multi-talented creator of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and current godfather of the Marvel Comics cinematic universe, broke box office records in 2012 with “The Avengers” before cleansing his palate with this light, funny and rewarding Shakespeare adaptation. While Whedon certainly has plenty of resources at his disposal, this interpretation of “Much Ado About Nothing” was filmed at his own home over 12 days, entirely in black and white, featuring a cast of fan favorites from previous Whedon productions. That it turned out as good as it did for something not unlike a vanity project is a testament not only to Whedon’s talent but to the caliber of these fan favorite actors, who are fan favorites for a reason, I suppose. Alexis Denisof stars as Benedick and Amy Acker as Beatrice, Shakespeare’s feuding erstwhile lovers who spar while visiting the home of Leonato (Clark Gregg), Beatrice’s uncle. A typically sprawling cast of characters—including the lovelorn Claudio (Fran Kraz), his lady fair Hero (Jillian Morgese), Don Pedro (Reed Diamond) and his scheming brother Don John (Sean Maher) — conspire, misunderstand and drink to excess, only for things to be resolved with help from the malapropism-spouting constable Dogberry (Nathan Fillion). Whedon’s adaptation of the original text which is plenty funny itself, is handled adeptly and charmingly, which is all you can hope for, really. Is it the ideal adaptation of the work? No. But fans of Whedon and, well, fans of Shakespeare, too, will find there’s a lot of pleasure to be had with it. $19.98 DVD, $24.99 Blu-ray.

“EUROPA REPORT”

The found footage style of filmmaking is gasping its last breaths in the horror genre, where it’s all but played out. But other filmmakers in other genres can find innovative and confident ways to employ that style as a storytelling device, if the smart independent science fiction film “Europa Report” is any indication. The film purports to document the privately funded first manned trip to Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, in the hopes of finding new life sources and to potentially study the vast oceans hidden under massive layers of ice on the moon’s surface. What we know from the beginning, of course, is that something goes wrong, though the journey is documented in its entirety by the crew, thanks to cameras stationed around their ship and living quarters. Just what happens I’ll leave for you to discover, but “Europa Report” is, for recent science fiction, reasonably plausible and all the more compelling for it. Its capable cast, including Sharlto Copley (“District 9”), Michael Nyqvist (“Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol”) and Anamaria Marinca (“4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days”), further keep things convincing with strong performances. I imagine the film’s conclusion will be polarizing, as it ends much like many of these found footage films do, but given this film’s more realistic and science-oriented leanings, it fits quite well. $26.98 DVD, $29.98 Blu-ray.

“LAURENCE ANYWAYS”

“Laurence Anyways” is a 160-odd minute epic spanning a decade in the lives of a couple driven apart by the revelation that Laurence (Melvil Poupaud) is transsexual and has decided to live the rest of his life as a woman. The mixed feelings of loyalty, confusion and heartbreak in Fred (Suzanne Clement), her girlfriend, don’t help things. With such a lengthy runtime, it’s fair to say the film is a bit overlong and indulgent, but filled with great stuff. Does the great stuff — and there is a ton of it — excuse the flaws? I think I loved “Laurence Anyways,” flaws and all, and I think there are enough truly amazing moments within that catapult its now-23-year-old writer-director, the Canadian Xavier Dolan to the forefront of the best young filmmakers working today. Some of those moments are superfluous to the plot, sure, but work of this magnitude in a more disciplined movie in the future is really going to knock some socks off. Dolan wears his filmmaker influences proudly and clearly: There’s a little Gus Van Sant cinema verite style here, a little Pedro Almodovar color and high melodrama there, a touch of the particular, symmetrical compositions of Wes Anderson and the distant formalism of late-era Stanley Kubrick. There’s even a Spike Lee floating dolly shot. All of these elements have been blended together to result in a look that’s distinctly Dolan, and Dolan’s storytelling, despite being long-winded, has improved with this deeply emotional tale and results in a truly heartbreaking ending that makes the whole epic journey totally worthwhile. There’s a masterpiece within “Laurence Anyways.” You just have to watch about 30-40 mostly very good extra minutes along with it. $24.99 DVD, $29.99 Blu-ray.

About This Blog

October 15

“PACIFIC RIM”

Guillermo Del Toro’s “Pacific Rim” is a feast for the imagination and, frankly, the most exciting and interesting big-budget studio summer blockbuster. This is, despite arriving in a year where most of the big-budget studio summer blockbusters were not any good, not damning with faint praise. “Pacific Rim” outdoes “Star Trek Into Darkness” in building a compelling and interesting science fiction world, outdoes “Man of Steel” with its massive-scale action sequences that remember to be fun instead of just joyless and dour, and outdoes “Elysium” in thematic cohesion and commentary – which ain’t bad, considering it was written off as a silly movie about giant robots fighting giant monsters. Which is also is. “Pacific Rim” tells the story of a future in which humanity is on the ropes against the invading kaiju forces, giant monsters arriving from an interdimensional rift at the bottom of the ocean in stronger numbers and more furious guises with an evident aim to destroy humanity. The only hope remains in the fledgling jaeger program, giant robots piloted by pairs of specialized soldiers bound together by neural link. (Already, “Pacific Rim” has more in the way of genuine sci-fi than the entirety of “Star Trek Into Darkness.”) What Del Toro remembers in a mix of the awe-inspiring and the humanity, a mix of superb action and inspired silliness and a fair amount of gravitas to ground things – but never too much. Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Idris Elba and Ron Perlman star, and you get just enough of them, but the big matchups between kaiju and jaegers are the things sci-fi blockbuster fans dream of. Which makes their decision to flock to “Star Trek Into Darkness,” “Man of Steel” and “Elysium” even less explicable; you can make the most fun popcorn movie in years, but I guess you can’t make audiences see it. $28.98 DVD, $35.99 Blu-ray.

“THE HEAT”

Sandra Bullock’s having a very good year, what with her current star turn (and, mark my words, soon to be award-nominated performance) in “Gravity” and her earlier smash success with this wonderfully funny comedy, “The Heat.” Bullock teams with the breakout star and director of 2011’s “Bridesmaids,” Melissa McCarthy and Paul Feig, and though that duo doesn’t quite hit the frenzied, consistently hilarious heights of that movie, this clever and raucously bawdy female-oriented take on the buddy-cop comedy is a crowd-pleasing delight. It’s amazing what pairing likeable leads and cleverly subverting a bit of the same old genre formula can do. Bullock stars as uptight, by-the-book FBI agent Sarah Ashburn, sent to Boston to find a mysterious drug lord. But getting to the bottom of this unidentified foe requires Ashburn to team up with local detective Shannon Mullins (McCarthy), a bull-in-china-shop, take-no-prisoners cop who isn’t out to make friends and hardly receptive to teaming up with an agent as aggressively no-nonsense as Ashburn. Hilarity, as it often does, ensues; the plot in “The Heat” is, let’s face it, totally secondary to the shaggy jokes and riffing between the two mismatched partners, but if you enjoy a surprisingly game Bullock and McCarthy trading blows in one silly set piece after another, who cares about the plot? I doubt it’ll be as fondly remembered as “Bridesmaids,” but it’s a hell of a lot better than, say, “Identity Thief,” and as long as McCarthy keeps bringing in crowds I’m happy when they’re in movies as funny as “The Heat.” $29.98 DVD, $39.99 Blu-ray.

“KEVIN HART: LET ME EXPLAIN”

I was not much of a fan of “Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain,” but it’s hardly worth examining for its filmic merits. It’s a curious phenomenon that the popular comedian Hart has single-handedly resuscitated the stand-up comedy concert film; when’s the last time one of those made any significant dent in nationwide box office? “Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie,” maybe? Has Jeff Dunham released a film? Anyway, there’s “Eddie Murphy: Raw” and there’s everything else, but to his credit, Hart’s taking a page from Murphy’s business model, and the audience seems to be there, willing to pay movie theater prices for a 75-minute stand-up show (that includes a 15-minute prologue with a prescripted skit about Hart’s problems at a party, and a brief montage of Hart’s recent world tour) chronicling a sold-out show at Madison Square Garden. And that puts Hart in special company, given that not too many stand-ups have managed that feat (Dane Cook and Andrew Dice Clay are among that number, though, so…). Anyway. It’s great for Hart. I like him. I like his performances in movies. He’s been very funny in very many things. I did not particularly like “Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain.” You may like this particular stand-up set, and if you do, so too will you like this movie, and I hope we understand each other that this review basically did no one any good at all. $21.98 DVD, $29.99 Blu-ray.

October 8

“THE HANGOVER PART III”

One of the most successful comedy trilogies in recent memory — if only by virtue of the fact that I can’t think of too many other comedy trilogies, anyway — ends with a whimper with “The Hangover Part III,” which follows the surprisingly funny original and the decently funny sequel with a film that wraps the whole thing up, except without jokes. Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis return as the Wolfpack, and their story is adequately concluded, but somewhere along the way someone in charge of these films wrongly suspected that what the third film needed is emotional closure in the tale of these three goofballs, instead of the mystery hook that propels the first two films. There’s no mystery here, no twist, unless you consider the fact that it’s completely straightforward to be a twist. Here, Phil (Cooper), Stu (Helms) and Doug (Justin Bartha) team up to send the dysfunctional, maladroit Alan to rehab. But along the way, a crime kingpin (John Goodman) kidnaps Doug and sends the three to find the gangster Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong, running his shtick into the ground) to recover a sum of money that the Wolfpack is in part responsible for Chow stealing. Mayhem ensues in Mexico and Las Vegas, once more, with a few returning characters from the first two films making brief appearances. But Jeong and Galifianakis dominate the proceedings, and neither is given anything particularly noteworthy or funny to do. “The Hangover Part III” looks nice, but I can’t imagine even the staunchest fan of the first two films being remotely satisfied with this; a coda that hints at the drunken bad decisions audiences were so fond of before comes far too late to be of any consequence. $28.98 DVD, $35.99 Blu-ray.

“THE PURGE”

A decent premise for a horror thriller is wasted in “The Purge,” a low-budget hit from the summer that can be charitably described as boneheaded. Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey star in this half-baked thriller with an attempt at social relevance that collapses under the barest scrutiny, a “haves vs. have-nots” tale set in a near future America where, for one night a year, all laws are suspended and the citizenry can take out their frustrations by murdering, pillaging, looting and raping to their heart’s content — until time runs out, and it’s back to business as usual. Things being the way they are, the wealthy shelter themselves in their lavish homes with expensive security systems during the Purge, while the poor and homeless fend for themselves and are disproportionately victimized. Hawke plays a security system salesman whose comfortable Purge night is up-ended when his son lets in a homeless veteran who had run afoul of a group of young yuppies out for his blood. Through a series of contrivances, these youths also turn their ire toward Hawke and family. Will they survive the night? With all the idiotic things they do, it’s impossible to predict for sure. But it’s not like the premise of “The Purge” is some air-tight piece of social commentary to begin with; the suspension of disbelief it requires is taxing, to say the least, and when “The Purge” devolves into a boring series of characters wandering in dark hallways, one comes to realize quickly that such suspension just isn’t even worth it. $29.98 DVD, $34.98 Blu-ray.

“AFTER EARTH”

Made something of a critical whipping boy upon its release — either to deflate star Will Smith’s ego a bit, to kick director M. Night Shyamalan while he’s down (again), or both in equal measure — the science fiction adventure film “After Earth” ignominiously arrives on home video after a rare box office failure for one of the biggest movie stars in the world. Smith takes a supporting role with his son, Jaden, in the lead of this story about a father and son who crash-land on an abandoned Earth long in the future, after mankind has left the planet and set up colonies on other planets. Will Smith stars as Cypher Raige, a respected and feared soldier whose talents for defeating the alien beings that plague humanity by sensing their fear are second to none; Jaden plays his son, Kitai, a timid boy aspiring to reach the greatness of his father and thrust suddenly into a situation where he must, where it falls to him to save himself and his critically injured father by making a dangerous journey across an unrecognizable landscape to set off a distress beacon. There’s no real reason, honestly, that the action in “After Earth” takes place on Earth, and it’s occasionally pretty silly (character names and ill-conceived accents don’t seem to be a strong point of this film), but guess what: “After Earth” is not that bad for something of a young adult survival adventure film, suspenseful and exciting and the sort of thing preteen to early teen children will likely really enjoy. It certainly isn’t the best science fiction film in recent memory, but would do just fine to serve as an exciting adventure for families with preteens or young teens in search of a film to enjoy together. $30.99 DVD, $35.99 Blu-ray.

“MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING”

Joss Whedon, the multi-talented creator of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and current godfather of the Marvel Comics cinematic universe, broke box office records in 2012 with “The Avengers” before cleansing his palate with this light, funny and rewarding Shakespeare adaptation. While Whedon certainly has plenty of resources at his disposal, this interpretation of “Much Ado About Nothing” was filmed at his own home over 12 days, entirely in black and white, featuring a cast of fan favorites from previous Whedon productions. That it turned out as good as it did for something not unlike a vanity project is a testament not only to Whedon’s talent but to the caliber of these fan favorite actors, who are fan favorites for a reason, I suppose. Alexis Denisof stars as Benedick and Amy Acker as Beatrice, Shakespeare’s feuding erstwhile lovers who spar while visiting the home of Leonato (Clark Gregg), Beatrice’s uncle. A typically sprawling cast of characters—including the lovelorn Claudio (Fran Kraz), his lady fair Hero (Jillian Morgese), Don Pedro (Reed Diamond) and his scheming brother Don John (Sean Maher) — conspire, misunderstand and drink to excess, only for things to be resolved with help from the malapropism-spouting constable Dogberry (Nathan Fillion). Whedon’s adaptation of the original text which is plenty funny itself, is handled adeptly and charmingly, which is all you can hope for, really. Is it the ideal adaptation of the work? No. But fans of Whedon and, well, fans of Shakespeare, too, will find there’s a lot of pleasure to be had with it. $19.98 DVD, $24.99 Blu-ray.

“EUROPA REPORT”

The found footage style of filmmaking is gasping its last breaths in the horror genre, where it’s all but played out. But other filmmakers in other genres can find innovative and confident ways to employ that style as a storytelling device, if the smart independent science fiction film “Europa Report” is any indication. The film purports to document the privately funded first manned trip to Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, in the hopes of finding new life sources and to potentially study the vast oceans hidden under massive layers of ice on the moon’s surface. What we know from the beginning, of course, is that something goes wrong, though the journey is documented in its entirety by the crew, thanks to cameras stationed around their ship and living quarters. Just what happens I’ll leave for you to discover, but “Europa Report” is, for recent science fiction, reasonably plausible and all the more compelling for it. Its capable cast, including Sharlto Copley (“District 9”), Michael Nyqvist (“Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol”) and Anamaria Marinca (“4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days”), further keep things convincing with strong performances. I imagine the film’s conclusion will be polarizing, as it ends much like many of these found footage films do, but given this film’s more realistic and science-oriented leanings, it fits quite well. $26.98 DVD, $29.98 Blu-ray.

“LAURENCE ANYWAYS”

“Laurence Anyways” is a 160-odd minute epic spanning a decade in the lives of a couple driven apart by the revelation that Laurence (Melvil Poupaud) is transsexual and has decided to live the rest of his life as a woman. The mixed feelings of loyalty, confusion and heartbreak in Fred (Suzanne Clement), her girlfriend, don’t help things. With such a lengthy runtime, it’s fair to say the film is a bit overlong and indulgent, but filled with great stuff. Does the great stuff — and there is a ton of it — excuse the flaws? I think I loved “Laurence Anyways,” flaws and all, and I think there are enough truly amazing moments within that catapult its now-23-year-old writer-director, the Canadian Xavier Dolan to the forefront of the best young filmmakers working today. Some of those moments are superfluous to the plot, sure, but work of this magnitude in a more disciplined movie in the future is really going to knock some socks off. Dolan wears his filmmaker influences proudly and clearly: There’s a little Gus Van Sant cinema verite style here, a little Pedro Almodovar color and high melodrama there, a touch of the particular, symmetrical compositions of Wes Anderson and the distant formalism of late-era Stanley Kubrick. There’s even a Spike Lee floating dolly shot. All of these elements have been blended together to result in a look that’s distinctly Dolan, and Dolan’s storytelling, despite being long-winded, has improved with this deeply emotional tale and results in a truly heartbreaking ending that makes the whole epic journey totally worthwhile. There’s a masterpiece within “Laurence Anyways.” You just have to watch about 30-40 mostly very good extra minutes along with it. $24.99 DVD, $29.99 Blu-ray.